


My roommate is a monster... really?!

by AraniaDraws (AraniaArt), Menatiera



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, College Roommates, Friends to Lovers, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Mutual Pining, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pining, Playboy Tony Stark, Supernatural Elements, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Veteran!Bucky, supernatural!Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 11:43:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraniaArt/pseuds/AraniaDraws, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera
Summary: "Steve makes sure his breaths are deep and even as he listens to Bucky's footsteps.He barely made it to their dorm room when Bucky's screams started. He almost made the huge mistake of waking him up, but he stopped himself the moment he touched Bucky. He was pretty sure Bucky wouldn't appreciate teethmarks on his forehead."Sharing a room with your childhood best friend in college is great. Even if one of you is a war vet with only one arm, and the other isn't exactly run off the mill either.This should be a funny piece. Written for the Stucky Scary Bang.The wonderful Arania made a beautiful piece of art to accompany this fic! <3





	My roommate is a monster... really?!

**Author's Note:**

> My life and soul belongs to the wonderful [sapphirae_escapist](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirae_escapist) (known as [cpt-winniethepooh](http://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/) on tumblr), who made me brave enough to sign up to the bang, who guided me through writer's blocks, who encouraged and betaed me the whole time. Without you my darling, this fic wouldn't exist at all.
> 
> The fanart embedded here belongs to Arania (both available here in [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraniaArt) and in [tumblr](http://araniaart.tumblr.com/)), give her love for her amazing work as well, folks.
> 
> The prompt is also from Arania: College Roommates Steve & Bucky: One is a Cryptid Hunter (or wannabe) - maybe with a youtube channel. (a world where most people don't believe in the supernatural). The other is secretly a supernatural creature trying to live a normal life. Maybe they knew each other growing up, but haven't seen each other in years. (Maybe something to do with one becoming a supernatural creature - either at puberty or having been changed).

**My roommate is a monster… really?!**

_Splash_.

the dark seems like it clings to his soul and Bucky wants to cry out he really wants to scream and rage and shout but he can't form any sound no matter how hard he tries and tries and tries and

 _Splash_.

he tries to move but the ties are digging to his skin and it feels like they are laced through marrow and bone he can’t fight he can’t move he can’t breathe he can’t he can’t

_Splash!_

He jerks awake, panting hard, heartbreat drumming against his ribcage, almost falling out of his bed. He rubs his forehead with his only hand - his skin is wet. He makes a face and slowly starts to disentangle the sheets that trapped his body, for a moment struggling with the absence of his left to help the procedure, but finally managing it. A nightmare again - great, fucking great, he really thought he was through with them. Maybe his therapist didn't lie after all when she told him it will never really stop, he'll just get a firmer grip and will be able to handle them better.

Right now Bucky doesn't feel like he handles them better. (And not just because he doesn't have the default number of hands to handle things.) Maybe he shouldn't have visited the morgue to take a look on that drowned boy. Yeah, looking at corpses probably didn't do any good to his PTSD. But, well, his hobby makes him do some weird shit every now and again. It’s never about sunshine and rainbows, and that’s the very reason Bucky likes to do it, and has since he was maybe 10.

He should’ve stuck with criptozoology instead of joining the Army. His left arm became the casualty of  that particular decision.

He finally frees himself and jogs to the bathroom, bypassing two puddles on autopilot, checking in on Steve as he goes. His roommate is sleeping, dead to the world - luckily, he is usually so deep under that Bucky hardly wakes him by his tossing or even screaming, despite sharing the same room. (The next door neighbour, Clint, is another story. He complains all the time after his episodes.)

The air in the bathroom is cold but humid, which is odd, but Bucky doesn’t really think about it right now. He just wants to wash his face hoping that he can wash away the remaining shreds of his nightmare.

He steps in a puddle. _What the hell._ He frowns and finally pays more attention to his surroundings. The bathroom looks like the playground of misbehaving children: water splashed everywhere, even the walls and the ceiling are dripping. Bucky frowns again. "What the hell, Steve", he mutters, and casts a nasty look to his roommate's general direction, as if he could stare him down through walls and sleep. "I won't clean up after you, pal."

He washes his face anyway, tries (and fails) to not step into more water, then goes back to the bedroom. They tried to apply for a dorm with separate rooms, Bucky even submitted that special form claiming as a war vet his mental health required it, but they weren’t lucky enough. Not that Bucky complained too much after he figured out the identity of his roommate.

But still, sometimes a little more privacy would be fucking great. Bucky sighs almost inaudibly, and grabs his laptop to sit on his bed with it. He isn’t up for sleeping again, so he could at least do something. Research on American mythological creatures is as good of a distraction as anything else.

*

*

Steve makes sure his breaths are deep and even as he listens to Bucky's footsteps. He's barely made it to their dorm room when Bucky's screams started. He almost made the huge mistake of waking him up, but he stopped himself the moment he touched Bucky. He was pretty sure Bucky wouldn't appreciate teethmarks on his forehead. He retreated immediately to the bathroom and did his best to revert back to his normal self as soon as possible. Unluckily, the haste meant more sounds and more… fluids, and it inevitably woke Bucky up. Steve didn't have time to clean up after himself - he’s glad he’s been able to transform back fully and collapse onto the bed before Bucky shoots up on his.

Keeping secrets is really, really hard when you practically live in each other’s asses all the time.

Steve knew about the nightmares, of course. While he looked for a roommate, Bucky never tried to hide the fact that he suffered from PTSD, caused by his tour in Afghanistan where he lost his left arm. But Bucky didn't want to discuss his daily (or nightly) struggles because he wanted to build a new life after everything that happened, and how could he if he'd always whined about the past? So Steve  never brought his observations up again after the first two fruitless attempts.

He knew a thing or two about new beginnings himself.

And anyway, Steve had more reason to worry about Bucky's pasttime activities than about his mental state. Some people would say the two had high correlation, but Steve was not among them. Bucky had his struggles but he was completely sane and normal. He just had unusual interests.

Namely, not many of the science students were neck deep into mythical creatures and crypid hunting like Bucky was.

Which could have been really nice and entertaining by itself, except. Except Steve had every reason to worry. Since he himself was not entirely human, to put it mildly. And he didn't want anyone to know about that, thank you very much. He tried to live an ordinary life. He enrolled in university to be _normal_ , for fuck's sake, and he did good.

Well…  
Mostly good.

The corpse at the morgue probably would disagree.

*

Living with Steve is mostly a good deal.

First of all, they’ve known each other all through childhood, and they adored each other back in the day. Bucky considers those days to be the time of his life, but that's probably due to the fact that it was, by definition, the most stress-free period in life. The most distressing worry back then was about deciding what to do in their free time. They usually went out looking for trouble - or trouble found them by virtue - Bucky's still not sure. And, oh, naturally, they fought a lot, because Steve already had his entitlement issues combined with knightly instincts, so they had to save every girl and animal they found in danger. Bucky had more clothes torn apart than unscratched.

Yeah, those were the days.

Things changed since then, of course, and mostly for the better. Steve was not sickly anymore, like when he was a kid, so no more worries about cold winds and misbehaving lungs and regular medicines. He wasn't a wimpy asthmatic either - quite the opposite.

Bucky was sure Steve became the human equivalent of the term "Greek God" when it came to his body. He’s won the genetic lottery when puberty hit or something, because _fuck_ , he became mouthwatering. No wonder three quarters of the campus girls try to flirt with him, something Steve is blessedly oblivious to. (The remaining quarter’s probably not interested in boys, one way or another, Bucky guesses.) Bucky often finds Rogers sitting on the couch with yet another pretty dame, explaining some art or history or whatever the girl's excuse was to get a lesson from him, hoping for something more than a beautifully worded explanation about the perspectives in a painting.

(Steve is fucking adorable when he explains things with his usual passion, though.)

And his behaviour changed too, though not as drastically as his appearance.

He became more quiet, more retreated. He didn't provoke fights anymore - well, it was probably thanks to the fact that nowadays he got his way by simply calling someone out. Having a rebuke from a 6'2" giant who weighs at least 200 lbs is definitely more effective than the same words from a five-foot guy who looks like the first punch will shove his skinny ass to next Thursday. Back in the days Steve always tried to prove himself and did his best to stand out from his environment.

That stunt disappeared.

Steve's aim now is the complete opposite: the lack of attention as much as possible under the new circumstances - it’s not like he can prevent people from staring.  Of course they look but instead of concern or even _disgust_ they are visibly trying to fight down the urge to throw themselves into his arms or send him dick pics or whatever. (Okay, maybe Bucky is projecting his shit to others, but who can blame him?)

And Bucky catalogues these changes because he's a good friend. Because he was a soldier and because he's used to paying attention to details. Not because he has a crush on his childhood best friend. That would be stupid and embarrassing. That would be totally inappropriate.

"Why would it be? Even I want to climb that Adonnais of yours", Tony purses his lips after a particularly long rant of Bucky’s on this topic.

Bucky feels hotness on his face and he just _knows_ he looks mortified.

"He's my _best friend_ ", he emphasizes for good measure.

"And? I'm best friend with Rhodey and Bruce and had sex with both."

Bucky covers his face. "Tony, this is the definition of oversharing!"

"Whyyyy, it was great. Especially when we were all..."

"Please, I beg you, just stop there, I really don't wanna know about it."

Sometimes Bucky really wonders how the hell Pepper tolerates his boyfriend. (Maybe she’s secretly into orgies. Pep is a mystery.) But, after all, no one really understands their relationship besides the two of them, so it’s not Bucky's problem. He’s lucky to have Tony who definitely helped him through some rough years, either when he struggled with his sexuality during his teens (Tony never had problems with his own omnisexuality) or the loss of his limb not two years ago (maybe Tony’s experience with his emergency heart surgery came handy when dealing with that). But that does definitely not mean that he's obliged to hear Tony’s sex stories because when Tony gets going he's usually unable to finish for a good few hours. Just for the sake of bragging, probably.

To tell the truth, Bucky’s been always amused by Tony's verbal abilities. Not like he'd ever admit it out loud.

“Anyway, I thought _I am_ your best friend, Buckaroo…”

*

The fact is, Steve’s been a little bit in love with Bucky since he was nine.

It wasn't an issue back then. First, because they were goddamned _kids_ , and kids don't shit themselves over about who is allowed to be loved and who is not. Second, because Steve was pretty sure he'd die before he had any chance with any girl (or boy, for that matter), so it really didn't count. It's not like he wasn't full of rage over the unfair nature of life  and full of will to live as long as humanly possible and grow old simply out of _spite_ , just to show them he could. But he wasn't stupid and he knew that with his conditions he wasn't destined to 'live long and prosper' as Bucky would’ve said it.

When his sickness got worse his mother decided to take drastic measures, so they moved to the countryside. Doctors from all over the globe sent patients to that particular place because of the hot mineral waters: there was a nice warm lake and plenty of springs and at first Steve hated all of it. He wasn't a cripple to live his whole life in a sanatorium! He was good enough to go back to school and to have a normal life!

And he missed Bucky.

But days passed and they grew into weeks, then months, and... the beneficial effects of the place started showing.

The lungs, first. It became more and more easy to breathe. Then his crooked spine just... straightened out somehow - because of the sudden height increase, his physical therapist rationalized -, his liver started to function properly at last, his CBC came back normal for the first time in his life and he started to gain more and more muscle weight and...

It was great. The world opened up.

But not so long after the miraculous transformations’ start the weird things brought their ugly heads up too. They seemed to be innocent at first: the desire to be near the water all the time... the animals suddenly being very aware and afraid of his presence… the strange dreams and fantasies... the craving after apples and sugar… and in the end, the blackouts.

That was the time when Sarah Rogers explained the situation. "Let's call it an unlucky family heritage", she said. And no matter how much Steve churned over it, no matter how hard he wished and tried and opposed, he couldn't flay himself out of his own skin. (Or, more accurately, he could; and that was the root of the problem.)

By the time he reached his 23th birthday he was totally, utterly fed up with his situation. He applied to college. And - not surprisingly - he got in.

He didn't count on meeting Bucky there, but that was definitely the best bonus he could never have asked for.

And the biggest problem as well.

The day after Bucky's nightmare Steve goes out to find that specific flavour of lollipop Bucky prefers the most. This knowledge comes from childhood too, but apparently they never grew out their sweet teeth and Bucky still liked this kind of candy more than any other sweets, so Steve - with a little longing and remorse - skips one of his classes to make it to the other side of the town, buy a stack of lollipops, and go back to the dormitory. And he still can't beat Bucky who's already at home when Steve arrives, so no time to make any garnish to the gift.

"Buck, I'm home and I brought you something!", he shouts as soon as he toes himself out of his shoes.

"Fuck you!" is basically Bucky's reply, accompanied by some loud crash. "You deserved that, asshole!" Steve pokes his head around the corner to investigate.

Bucky is sitting in the middle of their living room. Or, more accurately, he probably collapsed there and now he's half sitting - half lying on his back, legs entangled in long cables that belong to the two floor lamps they own, and he looks like a maniac.

"Um", Steve manages to say.

"Not you", Bucky reassures and shrugs helplessly. With one shoulder, the one he's not relying on to keep his weight. Steve usually finds the man's movements mesmerizing, but right now he's still a bit concerned about sanity, let it be his or Bucky's.

Bucky doesn't seem like someone who needs an overly worried roommate to cheer him up anyway. What was he thinking. He’s an idiot. Why did he bother.

But a helping hand - ha! - may be useful even for Bucky.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I’m filming", he answers and still seems furious. "And this", he points to one lamp sharply, "piece of crap didn't work, so I tried to fix it - dunno, switch lightbulbs or something - and that!", his finger hovers over the other incriminating piece of furniture, "that fucking asshole lamp fell on my head. Ow."

Steve doesn't dare asking how he managed to wrap himself up with the wires during all of this, just steps closer and kneels down to help untangle the cords. He can't muster up anything to say, the part of his brain where his words should’ve been seems totally empty. Bucky looks perfect with his messy hair and reddened cheeks and loose clothes. He looks like someone after having sex. Steve's throat feels dry like a desert and he has to gulp and he really wishes he could get some water right now. He's really grateful for small mercies like the fact that his hands don't shake anymore.

"Sorry for the bathroom", he blurts out and he wants to sink in shame. Yeah, okay, he had to say something, but _why this_ , brain, _really_? There's no time to agonize much though.

"You have to clean it up, pal, I won't. What did you do in there anyway?" Steve shrugs, and with the help of Bucky he removes the last knot of the cords from Bucky's body. Bucky pops up to his feet. "Anyway, I did some research last night and today in the library - you know, I found the books that confirmed the infos from the net - and I really want to do this video."

Steve nods and starts to check the lamps. The uncooperative one really needs another bulb, but nothing more serious comes up.. While Steve's screwing the new one in Bucky continues his explanation.

"You know I wanted to go with water-related topic, since the drowning, but I'm an idiot and somehow I ended up with russian folklore instead and I have no idea why but I found this website about the creatures in russian fairy tales - I'm still not and never will be over the fact that english language actually dares to call them _fairy tales_ , by the way, it's so unfair to other creatures -, so I found that and I love it so far and there are so many great figures. Like, there is a giant house spirit named Kikimora, they even named a spider after her, it’s really spooky..."

Steve flinches so hard he drops the used lightbulb. "Sorry", he mutters, eyes on the floor, and tries really hard to school his expression. "Go on, I'm listening."

“Scary, I know,” Bucky nods in understanding, completely missing what goes on in Steve’s head and  tells more. He actually plans on making today's video about the Kikimora. He shows his notes, and the rough transcript he made for the episode, and everything. Steve hums but otherwise he's quiet and he can't help the tension in his muscles.

He wants to be cool with this, he wants to support Bucky and this hobby of his that always amazed him, but it's... hard when he has personal interest in the matter. After all, he knows Kikimora better than anyone, except the mentioned lady herself, of course. Steve wonders what would Bucky say if he’d discovered that   _he_ knows the creature in question as well and even shares classes with her.

Well, that conversation between them would be hilarious. Provided that Natasha is cool with her secret outed, which, so to say, is unlikely. Like _hell will froze over before that happens_ levels of unlikely.

"You all right?", Bucky asks with a frown after a particularly complex rant about the Russians' adequacy - or the lack of it, Steve didn’t really pay attention - over naming their folklore creatures.

"Yeah, sure." Bucky doesn't seem convinced, so it's time for Steve to use a distraction. "I just brought some candy home, want some?"

And when Steve picks up the sack and shows the lollipop’s box, Bucky's face lits up like a christmas tree, and everything's _w_ _orth it_ for that sole expression.

And, yeah, Bucky sucking a lollipop is maybe hotter than a forest fire and Steve will definitely need cold showers or even more likely hours spent in the cold lake tonight to be able to calm down.

Steve helps to make the video anyway, and he doesn’t go out to the lake, and it's his turn to have nightmares, but as usual, he endures them without making any noise. _Good._ He’d really hate to wake Bucky up while water still pours from his skin.

*

See, Bucky really, really likes Steve. But he isn’t delusional about his chances, so he never said anything about it. Steve didn't show any sign of being gay anyway. (He never showed any sign of being straight, either, see the big no reaction to the giggling girls, but still.)

And who can blame Bucky? Aside from Steve being the hottest guy in the entire campus (though this opinion hurt Tony's ego way more than he wanted to admit), he also has a charming personality. He is kind, and caring, and passionate... and a complete ass, mind you, but in a cute way. Bucky realizes how bad he fell for him the same moment he realizes how fond he is even of Steve's character flaws. Because Steve... has many of those. His entitlement issues can probably be seen from a mile or so; he has the temper of a caffeinated chihuahua-wolverine mix; he rants and trails off and sometimes he can't focus for dear life and other times he is unapproachable  because he can’t be swayed from  the subject of his attention; and for the slightest emotional turmoil he blushes so hard a ripe tomato would be considered pink next to his face.

That last one should make any living being ugly but Bucky particularly likes him that way.

So he has it bad. He sighs as he sucks on his lollipop harder and tries to hide the fact that he wishes the candy was a particular boy's particular body part in his mouth.

Yeah, he definitely has a problem.

He does the video anyway, because editing for youtube is kind of soothing. If you love doing it anything can be therapeutic, and Bucky… really likes his hobby, all aspects of it. The thrill of the searching, the triumph of a case explored, solved or denied, and the joy of sharing his adventure with the world while at the same time staying behind the shadow of  anonymity is even better than his studies - it’s just fucking perfect. No one stares at his missing arm if no one can see it, for example.

But, beside the fun, editing also requires lots of hard work: messing up, correcting it, cursing, messing up again, lowering the expectations, nailing it, contemplating about all the choices made so far, cursing when messing up again, then rinse and repeat until the job is done. So Bucky is more than relieved when he can finally start uploading the file, because after that point the youtuber can’t really change anything so he has to accept the final product with all its flaws. And as much as his perfectionism is hurt by this fact, it’s also a relief. Now all he has to do is wait - for the upload to be complete, for the reactions - the comments, the reviews, the likes or dislikes… Bucky can’t stand waiting - not after sitting motionless for too long in the beanbag  -, so he usually makes himself busy for the first few hours, preferably at a long distance from computers.

Now’s not an exception: he grabs his camera and goes out for some investigating.

He visits the lake again. He‘s been there three times already since the incident, but he has the vague sense that he missed something, and anyway, he has just as much chance to spot something here than at other places. Looking through the camera’s lense helps to see clearer: when the world is narrowed down this much, just a tiny rectangle, then it’s easier to focus on minor details.

He creeps in under the police cordon, walks around some time, recording everything, narrating to himself - an odd behavior that sounds stupid but actually helps a lot -, trying to recreate what happened there. The aftermath of the police investigation doesn’t help his goal because the officers trampled down the mud and cleared everything out that might have been left behind by the mysterious killer/lifesaver creature.

When he gets bored - and a bit chilled -, he turns on his heels and visits the victim.

The girl is named Amanda. Bucky already talked to her once, two days after the incident and only one day after the official interrogations, so he wasn’t welcomed with open arms.

Amanda goes a bit pale when she sees Bucky, but after some internal debate with herself, she steps away from the door and lets him in. Bucky gives her flowers, because he hoped she’d appreciate  a kind gesture, and he figured daisies would butter her up for further conversations. He’s totally right, her mood improves immediately, and Bucky pats himself on his shoulder internally. Long years in this business are starting to make themselves noticeable bit by bit.

“So your partner became violent? It was your second date, right?” Bucky basically uses the same questions as the last time, except now he’s able to phrase them better. Amanda nods, and doesn’t explain further, and Bucky can go great lengths for a story but he knows where to stop when a sensitive topic comes up. “When was the moment you realized something was happening… around you two?”

“Not until the moment something yanked him out of the boat and down into the water” she replies, fingers shaking around an unlit cigarette, and she’s staring at his knees. “By the time I managed to sit up, he was nowhere to be seen, and that was the moment something pushed the boat from under and pushed me into the lake as well.”

Bucky tries to use his most calming tone, because he knows better than anyone here on campus how much a trauma can fuck up someone. Amanda is seemingly doing well, considering the circumstances - she already attends her classes -, but still. “I bet it was terrifying as hell.”

She looks up. “It was”, she nods slowly.

“But the… second attacker didn’t go after you?”

“No. I was… I was drowning, I’m not a good swimmer on the best of days but right then and there I was so shocked and scared I couldn’t move.”

“And that’s when…?”

“When I was close to blacking out, a horse showed up. I mean, it swam to me - the lake is like forty feet deep in the middle, and we were far from the shore at the time  -, and nudged me with his nose until I grabbed its mane. Then he got me out of the water.”

“How did it swim?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Sorry, I’m not a country boy, I lived my whole life in the city, so I might be wrong - but I guess horses are not the best of swimmers. How did it manage to pull you out of the lake?”

They talk a lot and Bucky asks even more questions. He wants to know everything, from the way the horse swam (surprisingly efficiently - or not, Bucky wouldn’t know -, and it wasn’t hard to rely on an animal this big and strong and confident) to the way it smelled (clean like air after spring rain and traces of plants like seaweed and fish like tuna). Amanda talks about the gentle way it handled her, about nudging and sighing into her ears and such seemingly foolish things. Bucky tries really hard not to judge, but she doesn’t make this endeavor any easier.

And after the session, Bucky is just as skeptical as he was for the first time.

Being saved by a mysterious horse does not sound… real. Especially not if he considers that the first time he asked, Amanda was ready to swear on her life that the thing that grabbed the man was _also_ a creature with mane and horse-like features. She doesn’t mention that now. (Bucky suspects the police persuaded her to drop the subject before someone questioned her sanity.)

Bucky is fully committed to believe Amanda, because it’s not even the fourth strangest thing he saw in his life, but he needs evidence - any kind of it - first. Plus it opens tons of questions. Is it the same creature, or two different ones? If different, what is their relation? If the same, why has it drowned one and saved the other? Is it connected to gender? Was it protective? Was it driven by instincts? Is it capable of intelligent thinking or not? Does it even exist beyond an overworking imagination?

The visit prompts Bucky to focus more on this investigation, so he spends the rest of the day looking for horses. Turns out, every horse must be microchipped, but noone registered any horse missing in the last few months, none escaped from slaughterhouses or anything like that, and beside Amanda, no one seemed to witness a horse without a rider in the vicinity.

Bucky goes home and complains about his fruitless work, but Steve seems stressed and uncomfortable - something he rarely is when Bucky talks about his passion -, so he drops the subject quickly, and tries to come up with something to cheer him up. Something bad probably happened to Steve that he doesn’t want to share yet, maybe bad grades or bad news from his Ma or something, Bucky supposes, and he does his best not to be nosy.

They end up on the couch together watching muted bad ‘80s action movies and incorrectly narrating them for the fun, Bucky’s legs are in Steve’s lap as he’s stretching across the couch but he lets Steve steal most of the popcorn in return for the unfair space distribution.

If Bucky falls asleep during the last movie and has a great night’s rest and wakes up in his bed the next morning neither of them mentions it afterwards.

*

“Don’t be mad at him, he doesn’t know”, Steve warns Natasha instead of any greeting.

Steve shows her the video Bucky made about the Kikimora, the slavic creature usually associated with nightmares, spiders and bad spirits. Objectively, it is a good video. It’s well-edited, with credited pictures and sound effects and short scenes from movies, and the narration is collected and as factually accurate as anything could be in folklore theories.

But Natasha’s eyes widen and dark, shadowy spider-legs start to appear around her tiny, harmless human form as she watches it. “You told him!”, she hisses when there’s only one minute left, and she jumps and he is on the floor and she is furious.

He’s not terrified, though. He’s not just a mere mortal either, after all. He bares his teeth and lets some water splash on the floor around him and then rolls over to pin her down instead, not bothered by the pain of ghostly legs embracing him too-tight. “I did not”, he declares and stares into her eyes.

They don’t move for a long time, Natasha looking at his face for clues of lying, but not finding any. “To the count of three?”, she asks finally.

They count and let go of each other at the same time. None of them should do it first, since it would implicate some kind of hierarchy… and they do not want to ruin their friendship with supernatural rivalry bullshit.

“How did he find out?”

“He doesn’t know anything, he found it on the internet”, Steve shrugs.

“It’s way too precise for that. All kinds of bullshit’s on the web.”

“He’s just this good.” Steve’s smile is fond and Nat rolls her eyes.

“Spare me your crush. I’m still hurt you never told me about him before you were reunited here. You’d saved me a lot of time back then if you’d just simply told me you were already bonded. I’ve arranged at least a dozen dates for you!”

“I’m not bonded”, Steve answers automatically to deflect, and Natasha sticks her tongue out.

“The hell you aren’t.” But Steve’s a stubborn bastard, and Nat has no patience for his stupid tunnelvision denial. “Wanna come and nag the messy students with me?” She’s the designated supervisor of the women’s dormitory, meaning it’s her job to keep the building tidy and in order. She loves it, and she loves bittering the lives of the messier girls, and not many of them dare to hurl defiance at her. Natasha is freaky on her good days and downright terrifying on her bad ones.

“Why not”, Steve smiles and accompanies her, often commenting as she judges the room. It’s fun, until they go to the east side from where they can see the lake . And a very familiar figure around it, wandering with a camera and looking in every direction.

Natasha tenses up next to Steve as they both halt and watch Bucky.

“How long will he be like this?” She asks finally.

“Until he finds what he’s looking for, I believe”, Steve answers with a flinch. “He’s quite determined once he decides a phenomenon is worthy of his attention.”

Natasha alternates between watching them, noticing the way Steve shudders the moment Bucky kneels down to touch something on the ground. “Blyat”, she summarizes. “Sooner or later he’ll find _something_.”

“Believe me, I know.” And he looks so miserable Natasha almost takes pity on him.

Almost.

Then Bucky’s movements catch her eye and she remembers that annoyingly accurate video, and then how much of a coward Steve is for not confessing his feelings already since even the blind can see that Bucky is head over heels for Steve and…

Gosh. Boys. They are so clueless.

They turn away from the window in union, and go on with the inspection.

“Remind me again why don’t you just man up and confess how madly in love you’re  with him?”

Steve groans. “Oh let me see, because I don’t wanna MURDER HIM?” he growls, then catches himself and holds himself back to whisper. “I want him too much, Nat, it’s not… not safe. What the fuck should I do, put him in danger because I’m too selfish to shut my mouth?”

But she’s too tired of boy’s shit to be diplomatic anymore, so she lays it out as frankly as possible.

“Steve. Life is short, especially for humans. You’ve been sharing a room with the guy for months without incident. It’s not like your Mom and Dad. Trust yourself.”

Steve looks miserable and doesn’t answer. Nat hits him on the head a few times and groans loudly, but otherwise lets the topic go. For the moment, at least.

*

"Why do you have seaweed in your hair?", Bucky frowns at Steve in the morning. Steve blinks at him owlishly. "Oh my god! Steve! You went to the lake without me?!"

Steve wakes immediately, gasps for air and blushes so hard it's a miracle nothing catches fire around him. He picks the evidence and puts it into the trash hastily.

"No, I was... I wasn't..." He gulps. "I was thrown into the lake!", he blurts finally.

Wrong thing to do, apparently, because Bucky’s been only annoyed by this turn of events but now he becomes furious.

"WHAT?! Who? I'm gonna kill them! That asshole Pierce and his gang, right? I'm soooo gonna kill them...!" He marches out of the room, determined and deadly.

"No, Bucky, stop...!" Steve curses and runs after him.

 _Shit. What better way to start a day than persuading your best friend not to kill anyone on your behalf_ , Steve thinks.

They remain grumpy all through it, Bucky sulking and Steve being embarrassed. Luckily, they can't really stay mad at each other for long and a few hours later everything's back to normal.

*

“Have you seen the card game party in the elevator?”

Steve stares at Bucky blankly for three seconds. “The fuck now?”

“I think they play strip poker, but I’m not entirely sure.”

“Let me guess. Johnny Storm’s idea?”

“Well, he’s definitely one of the players”, Bucky shrugs.

Steve sighs. “I hope they won’t puke in the elevator _again_. It smelled awful for a full week.”

“At least it’s not murder fork this time. I’d hate to be stabbed. _Again._ ”

“Well, I say I’d better stay in today for my safety anyway. Or for my sanity.”

Bucky smirks. “Good idea. I planned to do some cupcakes. Wanna help?”

Steve’s smile is the brightest. “Are you kidding? Let’s lock everything before they find out about your plan, I want them all!”

Bucky can manage by himself all right without a left hand, but cooking is so much easier if he doesn’t have to mix the ingredients alone and all. It’s faster too, which means more cookies, which means more happiness.

So they bake, and they eat all the cupcakes and cookies Bucky makes and by the end of the day Steve’s pretty sure he has sugar poisoning, but he doesn’t care. He crowns Bucky as King of All Baked Goods with a paper hat.

It’s an amazing day, until it isn’t. Bucky restrains himself and doesn’t talk about anything serious or stressful the whole day, and Steve does the same, but as the evening sets and they’re both full of cake, this silent agreement seems to break.

“Ma’s not happy with me”, Steve confesses, but he doesn’t elaborate the reasons when Bucky asks.

So Bucky opts to say simply: “I’m sorry”, then goes for a distraction. The only thing that pops to his mind is his investigation. “You know, this case makes me wonder.”

Steve hums encouragingly.

“At least half of the time cryptids turn out to be fake, like pigs or funny locals doing them, but the other half… sometimes it’s terrifying to think how much science still doesn’t understand about the world and how many things exist that are beyond our thinking.” Bucky raises the glass of cheap wine they are drinking, like he wants to toast, but ends up staring at the liquid instead. “And what if the creatures I find are malevolent?”

Steve doesn’t look up, and the hunch of his shoulders seems like he’s been defeated. It’s a depressing sight. Bucky wants to punch himself in the face for making him this uncomfortable - Steve’s a big guy, but he may get creeped out by cryptids too.

Instead of doing so Bucky forces out a laugh. “I know it’s stupid!”

“No, it’s not!” Steve’s head jerks up. “Do you… I mean… Are you afraid? When, y’know… out there? Investigating? Like right now?”

Bucky chews on a cookie to think it through. “Maybe. Yes? And no? It’s complicated.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Most of the time I’m too excited to be afraid, or too focused. It’s like in the army. While doing it, you don’t think, otherwise you’ll end up hurt or dead. But when I have silence and time to think…” He shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure there’s a creature out there that killed a student. But at the same time it saved another one. Why? What’s the motivation? Will it kill again? Will it save someone again? I don’t know yet. Not knowing, not understanding is what scares me the most.”

Steve fidgets with his pillow on the floor where they’re sitting. “Maybe it wanted to help the girl?” he offers. “It can be that the killing thing wasn’t even intentional. Accidents happen, right?”

Bucky snorts. “Yeah, right.” But he sounds skeptical.

“And what if… say, if you find the thing. What will happen then?”

Bucky shrugs. “That would be sweet if it happened but I’d be happy to find unquestionable evidence about the creature’s existence. Creatures of myths and folklore, if they exist, are really good at hiding. See the one with the Kikimora - that's a really interesting theory, but there's hardly any evidence of that spirit's actual existence.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “But let’s pretend this horse… or whatever is in front of you. What’s next?”

“Honestly?” Bucky thinks about it for a few minutes. “It depends if the creature is intelligent enough to realize I mean no harm to it. If not, then I’d be fucked, I guess.”

Steve’s laughter is somewhat nervous.

*

When Steve wakes up in the middle of the night, Bucky is still sleeping. Steve slips out of bed and leaves the room without making any noise. The water is calling him and he better answer while it does so gently.

When Bucky wakes up, Steve’s bed is empty and his sheets are messy. Bucky frowns and worries, but he has his own business, too, so he grabs the camera and his bag, and goes to the lake.

When Natasha wakes up she has to lay motionless for ten seconds until she realizes her instincts are going nuts and someone she cares for might be in some sort of danger. She doesn’t bother with pants, she jumps up and runs to the door to find the reason behind her feeling uncomfortable .

When Tony wakes up, he can practically hear the little bits of puzzle pieces slot together in his head. The best ideas come when someone’s not really able to control his thoughts - being asleep or drunk, for example. (He was both a few hours ago.) He curses and stands up to go find Bucky and share this amazing theory with him.

*

Steve likes to be underwater. The whole world seems peaceful when the only thing he’s hearing are the gentle pressure of liquid around him, the movements of the fish and the subaquatic  streams. Down here he feels calm and invincible and eternal. Down here is like being back in a time before life, unscratched by birth and safe from death. Down here nothing can bother him. The waves sing him lullabies and reassurances. The creatures evade him. He’s like the ruler of this kingdom.

Unfortunately, ha can’t stay down for eternity, and when he pokes his head out, the first thing he hears is movement on the shore. He looks, and Bucky is there. He has his camera with him - at least Steve guesses, though from this distance he can only see that there’s something in his palm and for the to lack of illumination it can’t be a flashlight -, and he wears warm dark clothes and wanders around the place where Steve went into the lake.

Oh. Right. Went into _as a horse_. That means hoof traces in the mud. Definitely something Bucky’d be interested in.

Steve wonders if he could swim to the other end of the lake and slip out unnoticed, but it’s unlikely, mostly because he’s back to his human form and he’s naked and his pale skin would practically glow in the moonlight and anyway, walking back to the dorm naked would be really unnerving - and he can’t allow himself to be that embarrassed this close to his transformation if he doesn’t want to lose control of his other self.

Going under again is a bad idea for the same reason. He needs to let go of the monster in him sometimes, but if he does too much that’s not good either. It’s a delicate balance, something he managed to learn through trial and error, and haven’t mastered fully yet. (Yeah, dead boy in the morgue, let’s not forget about that.)

But he should not reveal himself to Bucky, right? That would be an utter disaster. Bucky would hate him for lying and for not being human and all. Steve doesn’t want to lose the friendship that’s probably the most important and the most valuable thing in his life.

Steve can’t move. He stays where he is and prays and hopes for the best, like if he could direct Bucky back to bad only by sheer force of will.

It doesn’t work, obviously.

It doesn’t take long until Bucky spots him - right, moonlight on the dark surface of the lake, Steve’s on idiot for not realizing sooner it’s like being in spotlight.

He truly deserves what’s coming next.

Which is… Bucky looking directly at him and Bucky freezing as well. They don’t move for what feels like an eternity, then Bucky slowly steps closer and crouches ashore and talks quietly, trusting the water will take his voice.

“It’s okay, I’m not a threat. I don’t want to hurt you. You don’t have to come out if you don’t want, but I’d be really glad if you did.”

Steve doesn’t understand at first. Whilst he comprehends the words, saying this to him doesn’t make any sense… until he realizes Bucky doesn’t know it’s him.

Steve’s far in the lake, nose deep in water, practically only his eyes and his hair is visible - not much to recognize someone. Will Bucky go away if he stays here long enough? Well, Sun’s gonna come up earlier than Bucky would leave him alone, now that he thinks he found the mysterious creature.

Steve dives, swims a few strokes, then emerges again, twenty feet away from his earlier spot. Bucky’s eyes find him in seconds. Crap.

“You were the one who saved Amanda, right?” Bucky calls again. “I know what you are.”

This sentence makes the blood go cold in Steve. What the fuck did Bucky said? He knows? How? Since when…? What the…? He’s so confused he sinks again, forgetting to keep himself up.

When he comes up, Bucky is still waiting, crouched and patient.

“Don’t vanish, please. You are… you are a kelpie, right? The horse of the waters. It’s a Scottish myth. How did you end up here in America?”

Anger rises and makes Steve see red. “Fuck you, I’m Irish and not Scottish!”, he spits out a shout before he could restrain himself. Bucky flinches, but Steve doesn’t care. “My family came from Ireland, thank you very much! It’s a _Celtic_ myth, the focus is on the _celtic_ part, not the modern country part!” By the end of his speech, he is only a few feet away from the shore, and Bucky stares at him with utter shock.

“Sss-Steve?”, Bucky mutters, and…

Fuck.

Bucky’s on his feet in a second and backs away from the shore in near panic, even dropping his camera while doing so.

Steve can’t think properly. It’s self-defense instinct. He’s after Bucky before he could think about it.

Someone - a woman - shouts his name as he’s out of the water and jumps, grabs his prey. It fights. It kicks him in the face and Steve snarls and tightens his hold, feels the muscles shifting under his uncomfortably scarce skin. No prey can escape from his grip, but drowning it would be easier while in the other form. He should shift, he should drag him into the water and then shift, he should…

 _He should think_ , something whispers in his mind, under the hereditary instincts. _He should be in control._

The prey - Bucky - kicks again. There’s also a knife in Bucky’s hand and he aims for Steve’s throat with it, but doesn’t stab.

_Wait. Why do I know his name?_

Steve’s consciousness rises slowly.

Bucky stares up at him with wide eyes, with knife in his only hand.

“Oh my god”, Steve whispers. “Oh my god”, he repeats again, as he lets go off Bucky. “I’m… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t. I’m sorry.” He doesn’t stand up, he backs away on his knees.

Bucky pants hard and sits up. “What the fucking fuck”, he whispers, visibly and audibly shaken. “Steve?”

There’s probably a world around them, but Steve only sees Bucky and the feeling is probably mutual. If not for anything else then because of the terror he caused to Bucky just moments ago. Steve truly hates himself, he wants to die and disappear and… what was he thinking? He’s dangerous. He was ready to kill Bucky. He nearly did kill Bucky.

He should never go near humans again. It’s not safe. It’s not. This whole college thing was a mistake. He let his desires cloud his better judgment. He was such a fool and he endangered everyone and most of all Bucky and…

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t kelpies usually portrayed as beautiful women?”

Steve stares at Bucky. Bucky smirks.

“Or is it a trans thing? You can change forms, right? From human to horse and back? Maybe you can be a woman as well?”

“What are you talking about?” Steve is too confused to care that someone is laughing histerically not far away from them.

“Oh, was that offensive? Sorry. I just wanted to see clear. It’s not like it would be a problem, y’know.”

“Bucky”, Steve says slowly. “I nearly killed you.”

“Figured. But, hey, you didn’t. So while we’re both here, you have a chance to make amends by telling me everything I wanna know.”

Steve scowls. Bucky crawls closer, and his expression is more serious than ever. “Steve, you’re not the first one to try to kill me. But you’re the first who stopped before I had to make them stop.”

“Aren’t you… mad at me?”

“Oh, I definitely am. I’m furious. You knew I was investigating in this case and you didn’t say a bloody thing the whole time. I’m gonna make you regret that. But I count the murder attempt as a predatory instinct that took over you, and I know how that works, and you stopped in time, so I’m not mad about that.”

Steve wants to answer something clever, but he can’t really think straight, and the first thing that tumbles out of his mouth is

“I love you.”

They freeze again, Bucky stares at him in disbelief, then raises his hand and slowly strokes muddy fingers through Steve’s face.

“You idiot”, he answers.

And then he kisses Steve.

It’s strange and sweet and familiar at the same time, like arriving home. It starts shy and nervous and a bit trembling, but they gain confidence quickly and Steve feels Bucky’s tongue slipping into his mouth and the warmth of their embrace is almost intoxicating. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registers that he’s naked and it should probably be embarrassing but it doesn’t really matter right now. All that matter is Bucky, and their kiss that became oh-so-deep and passionate and that he never wants to let him go. Bucky’s hand trace mud on his back, and Steve grabs his shoulder to pull him even closer and he opens his eyes that he closed sometimes to look at Bucky’s face that seems like he’s blessed and this moment is just too perfect to actually exist and yet it is real.

The laughing and bickering in the background grows louder and louder, and the moment their lips separate again - _damn you, need for oxygen -_ the howling becomes insufferable. They both turn to look as one.

Tony’s on the ground, and Natasha is sitting on him. Tony is alternating between cursing at her and freaking out which seems to be aimed at their pair. Natasha is giggling like a maniac. Upon their gaze, Nat and Tony start to speak at the same time.

“I knew it! I figured it out!”, Tony bellows.

“I told you!”, Natasha hisses, but her eyes gleem with pride and joy.

*

“Are you sure about this?”, Steve asks nervously. Bucky kisses him on the lips.

“Sweetheart, to me you are not a monster, and I’m willing to show it to you.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

Bucky shrugs. “I’m always afraid, get used to it. But not of you.”

“Okay.” Steve braces himself and tightens his hold on Bucky’s hand. They start walking into the water together.

“Oh shit, we shoulda waited until summer”, Bucky hisses through gritted teeth. Steve laughs.

“We can still stop”, he offers easily. The cold doesn’t bother him: he’s home in the water. The strange thing is, he's starting to be at home by Bucky's side too.

“And listen to your insecurities about this whole supernatural-being thing again? No way. We’ll swim together, and you won’t drown me, and we rinse and repeat until you finally understand that I’m not in danger around you.”

Bucky probably sounds way more confident than he feels but maybe the goosebumps are really only caused by the cold of the lake, and he crowns his speech with a deep kiss and a wide smile.

“Anyway, Nat will kick our asses if we chicken out of this”, Steve adds. They turn and wave to her and Tony who are sitting together on the shore, busy with exchanging kisses.

It’s a great sight, and becomes even more great when Pepper joines the pair and gives both of them their fair share of kisses. They seem to be happy, and Bucky winks at Steve and mouths _'incredible'_ without a sound, which Steve reciprocates with a suggestive eyebrow gesture and a happy shrug.

Steve dives into the water and pulls Bucky with him, and they swim.

**Author's Note:**

> I know kelpie is a scottish folklore creature, but Steve is Irish, so artistic liberties were taken :)  
> Comments and every kind of feedback are welcomed, this writer needs validation XD


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